In a recent interview on NPR’s Radio Times, author Jeremy Scahill ("Blackwater: The Rise of the Wrold’s Most Mercenary Army") interpreted the public debt in a very meaningful manner.

"One trillion dollars" he said, "is the equivalent to $100,000 per day for a period of 82 years." That’s just one trillion.

When you start putting things in perspective, and you talk with your boards or your corporate sponsors or your local government officials, how frequently are you thinking forward to the impact of your decisions on the seventh generation?

How are your actions or lack thereof, impacting seven generations down the line?

Donald Barnhouse, WFMZ commentator, recently criticized Michelle Obama for her statement that things are not better off that they were years ago. Demonstrating how much better off we are, was the fact that he boasted more Americans have air conditioners than we did 10 years ago.

He didn’t present any facts that we are more in debt to pay for those air conditioners; are using more energy and making greater demands on the environment; or that global warming is responsible for any of the tremendous weather divergences the world has experienced.

Take a few minutes, go the extra mile, and consider how to measure the impact of where your dollars are going. Your great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren, who will probably be paying off the interest on our national debt, think about them. They will appreciate it.